Barticians urge end to 'ridiculous' water situation Significant sum earmarked - Baksh By Miranda La Rose Stabroek News April 28, 2000 Government has made provision in this year's budget for the supply of potable water to Bartica but residents in the riverain community say that the water situation there was so critical that it bordered on the ridiculous. Bartica, an interior township at the confluence of the Essequibo, Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers, with a population of about 16,000 people is to benefit from a sizeable sum for pure water supply, Minister of Housing and Water, Shaik Baksh, has said. Though no sum for the Bartica water system was disclosed by Baksh when he defended the budget estimates in Parliament recently, the sum allocated under capital expenditure was $911 million for inter-connected systems at Bartica, Pouderoyen on the West Bank Demerara, La Bonne Intention on the East Coast Demerara and Eccles on the East Bank Demerara. Funding is to be provided by the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the International Development Association (IDA). Though Baksh did not give a timetable as to when residents at Bartica could expect some relief from the current poor distribution of water, he said that a large sum will be spent on water treatment in that community. During a recent visit to Bartica, it was noted that water was rationed. However, Guyana Water Authority (GUYWA) Chief Executive Officer, Karan Singh, told Stabroek News that that situation should be alleviated, when the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) completed the rehabilitation work it was currently carrying out in the township. Singh said that because of an inadequate supply of power, GUYWA could not run the electrical pump. The manual pumps currently in use can only distribute a limited amount of water. A GPL official said the rehabilitation work was completed some months ago and the company now planned to install a larger engine. Residents, however, have said that given the fact that the two engines which now supply power to the community have been in operation for some 30 years, the power supply they receive was fairly satisfactory. According to one resident, "the situation is ridiculous. Some areas are lucky to get half an hour of water, when their turn comes around, and by five in the afternoon, water is completely cut off." He added, "some areas like First Avenue get none at all." Bartica's water is pumped into tanks on Carabese Hill from the Mazaruni River. The water is then released into the mains by gravity feed. They said that sometimes the water was treated and sometimes it was not. Residents have found sediment and tiny worms in the untreated water and many use bleach for purification. This has gone on for years. They are claiming, too, that the water from the Essequibo and Mazaruni rivers is contaminated with cyanide and other chemicals used in mining. The contaminated water from the Essequibo, they said, often flowed around the Bartica Triangle and reached the pumping station. They said that this was noticeable in the colour of the water. Before the 1995 Omai cyanide spill the water around Bartica was a brown coffee colour but it has since taken on an opaque murky appearance. And while the water situation continued to deteriorate, residents said, water rates were steadily climbing. In 1997, the residents said that the residential rate was $1,200; in 1998 it was increased to $3,500 and this year it was hiked to $4,500. "Now they are telling us to pay up to the end of March or get disconnected from getting what we are not getting", one resident lamented. In spite of the complaints, Singh said that GUYWA had done "quite a bit of work at Bartica." He said that GUYWA had stopped all the leaks in the storage tanks and installed new chlorinators. The water authority, he said had set up a new mechanical engine at the intake station. In addition to repairing the treatment plant and room where chlorine was stored, GUYWA has also installed a new booster pump. Meanwhile, Singh said that GUYWA is awaiting the award of the contract by Cabinet. Noting that GUYWA had no control over finances, he expressed hope that by the second quarter the designs of the water systems will be reviewed and by the third quarter work will start. A sizeable sum, he said, had been earmarked for Bartica. He was positive that the sum would be more than $50 million. Once the project got started, Singh said, it should be completed within a year.